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ARCHER

Started by addo1, September 18, 2007, 11:26:29 AM

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addo1

I hope someone has not already posted this, but in the search for Steve Fosset, I ran across this new device.  This system is used solely by the Civil Air Patrol on searches, but Homeland also uses this.  Here is their article about it, but if anybody has personally used it, I would like to hear how it works.
http://www.caparcher.net/

P.S.- This might go better in the Aerospace category.

Changed message icon to Standard - MIKE
Addison Jaynes, SFO, CAP
Coordinator, Texas Wing International Air Cadet Exchange


National Cadet Advisory Council 2010

AlphaSigOU

Quote from: addo1 on September 18, 2007, 11:26:29 AM
I hope someone has not already posted this, but in the search for Steve Fosset, I ran across this new device.  This system is used solely by the Civil Air Patrol on searches, but Homeland also uses this.  Here is their article about it, but if anybody has personally used it, I would like to hear how it works.
http://www.caparcher.net/

P.S.- This might go better in the Aerospace category.

Addison flies a GA-8 with the ARCHER system (N614CP). I'm not ARCHER qualified, but I have seen how it works. Pretty neat stuff. Basically, the aircraft flies a precise pattern while the ARCHER system takes digital photos of a strip directly below the flight path. When the aircraft returns to base, the data is processed through the ARCHER ground station, where the operator tells it to concentrate on a specific color, such as an aircraft's paint scheme. Any 'hits' matching that particular color are marked for later analysis or another mission with a Mark I/Mod I eyeball crew.
Lt Col Charles E. (Chuck) Corway, CAP
Gill Robb Wilson Award (#2901 - 2011)
Amelia Earhart Award (#1257 - 1982) - C/Major (retired)
Billy Mitchell Award (#2375 - 1981)
Administrative/Personnel/Professional Development Officer
Nellis Composite Squadron (PCR-NV-069)
KJ6GHO - NAR 45040

Eclipse

#2
Quote from: addo1 on September 18, 2007, 11:26:29 AM
I hope someone has not already posted this, but in the search for Steve Fosset, I ran across this new device.  This system is used solely by the Civil Air Patrol on searches, but Homeland also uses this.  Here is their article about it, but if anybody has personally used it, I would like to hear how it works.
http://www.caparcher.net/

P.S.- This might go better in the Aerospace category.

ARCHER is not, by any means "new".

A quick use of the search tool here would have found plenty of discussion about it.

If its really new to the people in your unit, you should probably discuss with your ES and AE people doing a briefing to bring everyone up to speed.

While its not readily available to all units, everyone should know we have it.

"That Others May Zoom"

AlphaSigOU

And it wouldn't hurt to go on a field trip to Addison to see the GA-8. Have your commander contact our commander...  ;D
Lt Col Charles E. (Chuck) Corway, CAP
Gill Robb Wilson Award (#2901 - 2011)
Amelia Earhart Award (#1257 - 1982) - C/Major (retired)
Billy Mitchell Award (#2375 - 1981)
Administrative/Personnel/Professional Development Officer
Nellis Composite Squadron (PCR-NV-069)
KJ6GHO - NAR 45040

SDF_Specialist

Does anyone know if you have to be a qualified aircrew member in order to take courses on how to use Archer? This is something really interests me, and it never hurts to know how to use something in the event that your Wing gets one  ;D
SDF_Specialist

addo1

Quote from: Eclipse on September 18, 2007, 01:33:06 PM
Quote from: addo1 on September 18, 2007, 11:26:29 AM
I hope someone has not already posted this, but in the search for Steve Fosset, I ran across this new device.  This system is used solely by the Civil Air Patrol on searches, but Homeland also uses this.  Here is their article about it, but if anybody has personally used it, I would like to hear how it works.
http://www.caparcher.net/

P.S.- This might go better in the Aerospace category.

ARCHER is not, by any means "new".

A quick use of the search tool here would have found plenty of discussion about it.

If its really new to the people in your unit, you should probably discuss with your ES and AE people doing a briefing to bring everyone up to speed.

While its not readily available to all units, everyone should know we have it.

That is what I meant when I said "new".  You would be surpried how few people that I talked to really knew about it.  :)
Addison Jaynes, SFO, CAP
Coordinator, Texas Wing International Air Cadet Exchange


National Cadet Advisory Council 2010

addo1

Quote from: AlphaSigOU on September 18, 2007, 01:40:45 PM
And it wouldn't hurt to go on a field trip to Addison to see the GA-8. Have your commander contact our commander...  ;D

   Thanks!  I will do that.   ;D
Addison Jaynes, SFO, CAP
Coordinator, Texas Wing International Air Cadet Exchange


National Cadet Advisory Council 2010

jeders

Quote from: Recruiter on September 18, 2007, 01:59:22 PM
Does anyone know if you have to be a qualified aircrew member in order to take courses on how to use Archer? This is something really interests me, and it never hurts to know how to use something in the event that your Wing gets one  ;D

ARCHER is an airborne asset, so I believe yes, you do have to be aircrew first.
If you are confident in you abilities and experience, whether someone else is impressed is irrelevant. - Eclipse

Eclipse

Quote from: Recruiter on September 18, 2007, 01:59:22 PM
Does anyone know if you have to be a qualified aircrew member in order to take courses on how to use Archer? This is something really interests me, and it never hurts to know how to use something in the event that your Wing gets one  ;D

Yes, you must be at least a mission scanner.

In addition, you must take and pass a relatively difficult online curriculum and exam - it gets into the physics of light and radio waves, and has been described as "challenging".

Once passed, you must then be recommended by the Wing Commander to the Archer school, which is a week-long affair at NHQ.

Considering there are(is?) currently only one Airvan per region(ish), access to the airframes, and thus training and proficiency has also been described as "challenging".

"That Others May Zoom"

AlphaSigOU

Following is the minimum qual for ARCHER operator:

Minimum mission scanner qualified.

Pass the online ARCHER screening exam - you currently have only one shot at taking and passing the test, and it's difficult enough to keep the pencil-whippers away.

Be within +/- 50 miles from an ARCHER asset location (for Texas Wing, within the DFW metro area)

Be selected to take further training at the ARCHER school either at Maxwell AFB or Mojave, California. Selection depends on budget and training needs, and the ultimate authority is the wing commander. CAP pays for the training, but it's a very tough school with demanding study and practical test requirements. Not everyone passes.

There's been talk about shifting the training to the local area, but it's been put on the back burner for now.
Lt Col Charles E. (Chuck) Corway, CAP
Gill Robb Wilson Award (#2901 - 2011)
Amelia Earhart Award (#1257 - 1982) - C/Major (retired)
Billy Mitchell Award (#2375 - 1981)
Administrative/Personnel/Professional Development Officer
Nellis Composite Squadron (PCR-NV-069)
KJ6GHO - NAR 45040

SoCalCAPOfficer

If you take the online test make sure you take your time and have the proper materials handy.  You only get to take it once.   I took it the day it came out, read through it online and took the test right afterward.   I came close, but no cigar.  I can not try again according to the rules in effect at the time I took it.
Daniel L. Hough, Maj, CAP
Commander
Hemet Ryan Sq 59  PCR-CA-458

Flying Pig

Why do you only get one chance?

wingnut

The ARCHER science is way overblown, Hyperspectral imaging is being taught to High School Kids, junior colleges teach it in the geography department under GIS or geographical information systems or GIS. The archer is not a secret or classified, check the SPIE website and for 18 bucks you can read all about it. The on line test was not a good classifier of a persons ability to operate Archer, it had some TRICK questions. I have operated the system and I can tell you this, at least 1/2 of the operators can't fly because they throw their cookies in 20 minutes, now that is more important a reason to fail a person than spending 6 grand on the training and watching them refuse to fly missions later. The Archer technology once perfected will provide excellent potential for our use, however we need to consider that their is a difference between Archer image data analysis and a guy who presses a few buttons to start a track (Image Track).

Stay tuned for some new news on the Archer. . . soon

addo1

   Either way, you can take an online ARCHER training course and test if you want to.  Here is the link:                            http://atg.cap.gov/
Addison Jaynes, SFO, CAP
Coordinator, Texas Wing International Air Cadet Exchange


National Cadet Advisory Council 2010

SoCalCAPOfficer

This is taken from the CAP website for the Archer Online Exam

"Welcome to the ARCHER online training course. CAP's ARCHER program has the intense interest of the highest levels of the US Government. Because of this it is critical that we select our very best people to train and operate the system.

 
The ARCHER contractor will provide training for 162 CAP members. This will permit an initial cadre of approximately 10 highly trained ARCHER operators per system. ARCHER trainee selection will be a very competitive process. Recommend members who take this course not discuss the material with other members because doing so could result in other people gaining an advantage (and getting selected) over you! The test associated with this preliminary training may only be taken once. "
Daniel L. Hough, Maj, CAP
Commander
Hemet Ryan Sq 59  PCR-CA-458

Hoser

The problem with ARCHER is not the technology, but our lack of understanding of how to get the most out of it. We simply don't understand the best uses for it. The bands utilized by ARCHER have value for different things, say one band is better for man made objects whereas another band is useful for say vegetation. We also haven't learned the best detect settings for the type of target in question. In ARCHER school we were taught the bare nuts and bolts of "ARCHERology", nothing more. As operators we have to make SWAGS as to what we are seeing because I would venture to guess none of us are remote sensing analysts or photogrammetrists. I feel the operators should be taught basic hyperspectral analysis as mission planners rely on what we tell them, especially in a case such as the Fosset search. I have said before that the most promising application is in the environmental area, as was done with the Coffeyville, KS oil spill in July. This mission was flown by Missouri and Texas Wings. Our goal was to determine the extent of contamination from this spill. MO also flew an extent of contamination mission following a chemical plant fire in Kansas City. With both missions the results were mixed, but promising.
Change detect also has environmental application as well as seismic utility. I am undecided as to anomaly detect, as ARCHER will hit on everything. While this to a large degree is related to detect settings, the potential for sending a ground team to check out a site that may well be cousin Cletus' junk pile is a real consideration. Even with exact match, that possibilty exists. I took signatures from KNOWN aircraft wreckage, loaded them into ARCHER and while we did find previously unfound wreckage, we also found a multitude of Jim Billy Bob's junk piles, blue tarps dead refrigerators, stills, rusty Volkswagens and who knows what else. Again a lack of training beyond the nuts and bolts and simply not knowing what things look like in ARCHER.
In a situation like the Fosset search, where there is a high probability of life threat, I question ARCHER's efficacy, mostsly due to positioning of the systems, difficulty in staffing the airplane and transit time. However we cannot discount the principle of "even a blind sow finds an acorn now and then." Simply right time at right place. But that applies to the old eyeball as well.
I agree with many critics that there was alot of hyperbole involved and that it was billed as the "silver bullet." But I also think that instead of poking sticks at it, the non ARCHER folks ought to be saying " Hey, I was wondering if this might be a use for ARCHER", or "what about that?" National has spent gazillions on this technology and I feel it is incumbent on us all to try and help it realize it's capability. When I was in ARCHER school, we were told that we are the ones who will be figuring out how best to use it. This is true, but again, making this work to our advantage is not just the responsibility of the ARCHER geeks but all of us. That is my opinion, I could be wrong.

Mark Anderson, Capt.
ARCHER Operator
Missouri Wing

SJFedor

Quote from: addo1 on September 18, 2007, 09:10:25 PM
  Either way, you can take an online ARCHER training course and test if you want to.  Here is the link:                            http://atg.cap.gov/

That's not an online training course. That's the screening exam to find elligible candidates that we were talking about earlier.

Steven Fedor, NREMT-P
Master Ambulance Driver
Former Capt, MP, MCPE, MO, MS, GTL, and various other 3-and-4 letter combinations
NESA MAS Instructor, 2008-2010 (#479)

Hoser

I am curious, of all the posters in the various ARCHER threads, how many are operators?

Hoser

AlphaSigOU

Quote from: Hoser on September 18, 2007, 10:44:53 PM
I am curious, of all the posters in the various ARCHER threads, how many are operators?

Nichts mich... though our squadron is the ARCHER base for SWR/TX WG. (The other SWR ARCHER platform is in NM WG.)
Lt Col Charles E. (Chuck) Corway, CAP
Gill Robb Wilson Award (#2901 - 2011)
Amelia Earhart Award (#1257 - 1982) - C/Major (retired)
Billy Mitchell Award (#2375 - 1981)
Administrative/Personnel/Professional Development Officer
Nellis Composite Squadron (PCR-NV-069)
KJ6GHO - NAR 45040

A.Member

#19
Not an operator either.  Like many was very interested in the concept at first and was going to apply for training.  However, after reading through the material I saw far to many limitiations on the technology and the way it's being implemented to make it effective for our use and decided not to pursue any further. 

Given the program's overall cost, not just in the ARCHER system itself but the platform  (ie GA-8) and training as well, I'm convinced that the program should be abandoned and the money reallocated to more effective solutions that offer greater mission impact.  ARCHER is a boondoggle.
"For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return."